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Silicon Valley and The New Feudalism: Why the 'Internet of Things' Marks a Return...

iwakar

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SILICON VALLEY AND THE NEW FEUDALISM: WHY THE 'INTERNET OF THINGS' MARKS A RETURN TO THE MIDDLE AGES

A person may purchase a nice-looking box full of electronics that can function as a smartphone, the corporate argument goes, but they buy a license only to use the software inside. The companies say they still own the software, and because they own it, they can control it. It’s as if a car dealer sold a car, but claimed ownership of the motor.

I remember this same argument being made by the RIAA and its defenders during the file-sharing/copyright hullaballoo of the late 1990s to early 2010s regarding music piracy, which was rampant on Napster, KaZaA, LimeWire etc. as a response to the defenses of "but I bought the record/album/cassette tape/CD, why can't I share it?" etc. Few, if any anticipated it being applied now in this new context.

In this 21st-century version, companies are using intellectual property law—intended to protect ideas—to control physical objects consumers think they own.

Recent years have seen progress in reclaiming ownership from would-be digital barons. What is important is that we recognize and reject what these companies are trying to do, buy accordingly, vigorously exercise our rights to use, repair and modify our smart property, and support efforts to strengthen those rights. The idea of property is still powerful in our cultural imagination, and it won’t die easily.

So my question is: do we, and should we, really only view our hardware as transportation for the software? Is my Samsung Galaxy just a husk for Android OS and my apps? If there's an argument against this position, what would it be?
 

Lark

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Guys, its just capitalism abolishing personal proprietorship, for the masses, concentrating what remains in a shrinking number of classes.

Guess who considered that foreseeable all the way back at the beginning of the industrial revolution when he and his best bud factory owner saw the earliest examples of steam powered ploughs putting agri-workers of the land and into the new towns and cities?

First name K _ _ L, second name M _ _ X.
 

Coriolis

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So my question is: do we, and should we, really only view our hardware as transportation for the software? Is my Samsung Galaxy just a husk for Android OS and my apps? If there's an argument against this position, what would it be?
If you use open source software, it doesn't much matter.

I do prefer to view the hardware and software separately, at least. When I buy hardware, whether a phone or a tablet or a computer, it should be completely up to me what software I put on it, and I will acquire that separately. If merchants want to make various options available for preinstallation at the time of purchase - fine, but no default forcing Windows down people's throat with all its adware and bloatware. Same with Android or whatever is on one's phone.
 

Oberon

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Technically, the electrons are emitted from all matter, and given that the hardware and software merge at the point of the electron, it is arguable that software is actually hardware.

But then I would be you and you would be me too.
 

Oaky

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So my question is: do we, and should we, really only view our hardware as transportation for the software? Is my Samsung Galaxy just a husk for Android OS and my apps? If there's an argument against this position, what would it be?
The pursuit of creativity and/or invention.

There is a sizeable tinker community in the tech industry utilising the sensors and capabilities of android phones for other uses. With the confines of what hardware can actually do there's virtually no limit to what someone's creativity can produce with it.

Hardware is an interface. It's not just a transport for software. It has speakers so that you can hear interesting things, a screen so that you can see beautiful or ugly things, cameras so you can picture and video things, sensors so that it can be intelligent enough to provide you various securities to avoid access to your software and files without consent.

You can use the software of the digital giants or your own, or someone else's, when it's an android phone. When firmware prevents that (like the naughty bitten fruit), there are also communities dedicated to free themselves off the confines of their hardware, on the consequence that the company will no longer service your phone.
 

Lark

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Did they guy who wrote Generation X not write another book called MicroSerfs about this kind of thing?
 

Coriolis

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You can use the software of the digital giants or your own, or someone else's, when it's an android phone. When firmware prevents that (like the naughty bitten fruit), there are also communities dedicated to free themselves off the confines of their hardware, on the consequence that the company will no longer service your phone.
I have found this a fair bargain, at least with desktop computers. It's been a long time since I was able to obtain actual service from a computer vendor. Since then, I build my own, knowing that if I need anything fixed in future, I will have to do it myself, so it makes sense to understand the thing inside and out from the outset.
 

Andy

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SILICON VALLEY AND THE NEW FEUDALISM: WHY THE 'INTERNET OF THINGS' MARKS A RETURN TO THE MIDDLE AGES



I remember this same argument being made by the RIAA and its defenders during the file-sharing/copyright hullaballoo of the late 1990s to early 2010s regarding music piracy, which was rampant on Napster, KaZaA, LimeWire etc. as a response to the defenses of "but I bought the record/album/cassette tape/CD, why can't I share it?" etc. Few, if any anticipated it being applied now in this new context.





So my question is: do we, and should we, really only view our hardware as transportation for the software? Is my Samsung Galaxy just a husk for Android OS and my apps? If there's an argument against this position, what would it be?

I'm not sure if this issue is so new. If I buy a book, does that give me the right to copy the words within it and give my copy to other people? Legally, the answer is no, of course. Still, I can see your point - many technology companies these days do seem very controlling. That was one of my objections when steam started to become popular for computer games. I don't use it. I don't use smart phones either. Not much of an answer perhaps, but it's one of the few I have at my disposal. Who knows, if enough people do the same thing, maybe the power of capitalism will force them to change their ways. An unlikely dream, I know.
 

Coriolis

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I'm not sure if this issue is so new. If I buy a book, does that give me the right to copy the words within it and give my copy to other people? Legally, the answer is no, of course. Still, I can see your point - many technology companies these days do seem very controlling. That was one of my objections when steam started to become popular for computer games. I don't use it. I don't use smart phones either. Not much of an answer perhaps, but it's one of the few I have at my disposal. Who knows, if enough people do the same thing, maybe the power of capitalism will force them to change their ways. An unlikely dream, I know.
At minimum, you have the right to lend your physical copy of the book to as many people as you like, much as the public library does. I'm not sure all software licenses allow that. Meaning: if you decide you no longer want to use a program, are you free to give, lend, or sell your copy/license to someone else, provided it is removed from your phone/system? It should be.
 

Andy

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At minimum, you have the right to lend your physical copy of the book to as many people as you like, much as the public library does. I'm not sure all software licenses allow that. Meaning: if you decide you no longer want to use a program, are you free to give, lend, or sell your copy/license to someone else, provided it is removed from your phone/system? It should be.

An interesting point, but it is worth noting that authors receive public lending rights from books borrowed from libraries, so actually they do get paid for that. The second hand books market is probably a better analogue.
 

Coriolis

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An interesting point, but it is worth noting that authors receive public lending rights from books borrowed from libraries, so actually they do get paid for that. The second hand books market is probably a better analogue.
I never heard of that. Neither the public libraries nor the school libraries in my area pay such a thing, unless the authors are somehow paid by the publisher if they realize a copy has been bought by a library.
 

Virtual ghost

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I'm not sure if this issue is so new. If I buy a book, does that give me the right to copy the words within it and give my copy to other people? Legally, the answer is no, of course. Still, I can see your point - many technology companies these days do seem very controlling. That was one of my objections when steam started to become popular for computer games. I don't use it. I don't use smart phones either. Not much of an answer perhaps, but it's one of the few I have at my disposal. Who knows, if enough people do the same thing, maybe the power of capitalism will force them to change their ways. An unlikely dream, I know.


I am fully aware of the fact that I am second worlder that wondered in here but I just want to say that this isn't set in stone. In my place there are plenty of legal businesses that live from copying books. You take a book from a library or your university and go there and say from which to which page you want to make a photocopy and then the guy says when you should come back, depending on the other orders and they charge for this about 2 to 3 cents per page. Plus a little bit extra if you want to merge pages into a bookform that you can read. Therefore it is possible to get expensive books for a change.


What is the relic of communism where all books were made and published by the government and therefore doing this wasn't a controversy, since there really wasn't private property. Even today very large chunk of books gets published through the ministry of culture, so the practice didn't really change over the decades.


I simply want to point out that there are alternative ways of doing things. The problems behind this entire thread quickly fall apart if you start to chip away at the basic premises. (but I will leave to the others to do that)
 

Coriolis

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I am fully aware of the fact that I am second worlder that wondered in here but I just want to say that this isn't set in stone. In my place there are plenty of legal businesses that live from copying books. You take a book from a library or your university and go there and say from which to which page you want to make a photocopy and then the guy says when you should come back, depending on the other orders and they charge for this about 2 to 3 cents per page. Plus a little bit extra if you want to merge pages into a bookform that you can read. Therefore it is possible to get expensive books for a change.


What is the relic of communism where all books were made and published by the government and therefore doing this wasn't a controversy, since there really wasn't private property. Even today very large chunk of books gets published through the ministry of culture, so the practice didn't really change over the decades.


I simply want to point out that there are alternative ways of doing things. The problems behind this entire thread quickly fall apart if you start to chip away at the basic premises. (but I will leave to the others to do that)
Indeed. I have always considered the whole notion of "intellectual property" to be a bit of an oxymoron, almost in the sense that our native Americans, from what I understand, didn't have our modern concept of owning land.
 

Virtual ghost

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Silly story as continuation.

The EU asked my country to digitalize student info and how higher education works. Therefore the government did it but some high education institutions refused to accept this system in everyday life since it is seen as counter-productive and closed minded. So now my school that is owned by the government which pays the staff and tuitions doesn't accept the rules, since the staff (and students) like the flexibility in their work. Because once you take the computer out of the equation everything is becoming negotiable. While government/ministry is also ok with this judging by their reactions and the idea that money should decide everything isn't too well accepted here.


Since we had so many wars and dictatorships we are all in guerilla mode by default. (for better or for worse)
 

Virtual ghost

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Indeed. I have always considered the whole notion of "intellectual property" to be a bit of an oxymoron, almost in the sense that our native Americans, from what I understand, didn't have our modern concept of owning land.

Well, there are people in my part of the world that are screaming "We wouldn't end up as Native Americans!". :D


Actually this can go two ways, if you go too far against intellectual property you may end up in a scenario that no one will put real effort into creating intellectual content. What is pretty bad as well.
However having everything in copyright and 1984 style laws also isn't the real solution.
 

Yuurei

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My friend works for FB and their gross protection of what they consider "theirs" is actually nothing short of pathetic. It's as if the really only do it so the nerds can feel important, it feels compeltley unreal and more like a bunch of children playing make believe.

I'm not allowed to even enter the patio or join my friend for lunch AT ALL. I was allowed to attend the Christmas party at his work place once but you can't walk in the door without getting a badge and you are not allowed to go beyond the party room even with an escort. They take it so seriously and all I see is a bunch of Chihuahua's puffing out their chest and barking at me and I can only laugh and shake my head.

Last time I actually informed the guy at the front desk " You know that no one gives a shit abut your dumbass VR tech, right?"

He just kinda sighed " Yeaaaah."
 

Andy

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I never heard of that. Neither the public libraries nor the school libraries in my area pay such a thing, unless the authors are somehow paid by the publisher if they realize a copy has been bought by a library.

To be honest, I'm not sure how public lending rights are collected. I suspect they are calculated by how many times a book is borrowed, then paid by a central authority, whoever that may be. I guess the organisation of public libraries varies a bit from nation to nation.

I am fully aware of the fact that I am second worlder that wondered in here but I just want to say that this isn't set in stone. In my place there are plenty of legal businesses that live from copying books. You take a book from a library or your university and go there and say from which to which page you want to make a photocopy and then the guy says when you should come back, depending on the other orders and they charge for this about 2 to 3 cents per page. Plus a little bit extra if you want to merge pages into a bookform that you can read. Therefore it is possible to get expensive books for a change.


What is the relic of communism where all books were made and published by the government and therefore doing this wasn't a controversy, since there really wasn't private property. Even today very large chunk of books gets published through the ministry of culture, so the practice didn't really change over the decades.


I simply want to point out that there are alternative ways of doing things. The problems behind this entire thread quickly fall apart if you start to chip away at the basic premises. (but I will leave to the others to do that)

And there you go, I've learnt something new as well.
 

Andy

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Here is little point of history - did you know that patents were originally created to preserve knowledge? Before they existed, artisans and alchemists would often guard important knowledge from outsiders. Unfortunately, this meant that sometimes an unexpected death (massacre - the medieval world could be rather violent) meant that such knowledge was lost. Patents were designed to give a legal framework so people could share their knowledge without fear of losing the financial benefits they felt they had earned.
 

???

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They do this with the hardware too now. Apple ids their chips and if you replace a faulty chip with another chip, the bios will see a different id and stop functioning. They've begun to make it so hard to fix stuff like a cell phone that it's easier to buy another one; but if they didn't glue parts together you could easily fix them.

It's why it's so important that society fights monopolies; corporations will do anything to put a stranglehold on competition, even if it's something like self-repair or electronics repair businesses, which have slowly become an archaic business model. Corporations prefer that we throw our stuff away and buy more from them, even if it's not economical or good capitalism.
 
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